Question on feed for Red Bro

I am finishing up what will be, hopefully, my last batch of Cornish X. I'd really like to go to Red Bros, but I would also like to feed my chickens a diet based more on grains available at the local feed mill and get away from using non-medicated commercial game bird feeds, which has become so expensive. Will the Red Bros grow okay on a diet of grains, or what would you suggest? I really don't care if it takes 12 weeks or more to grow to size. I just want a less stressful experience than the one I have with Cornish X. Thanks

What do you feed yours? I would really like to get away from game bird feed, but will feed it if necessary. Would it if work to feed some of the high protein feed with additional grains? That would give me a lower protein % than 22, and I know the birds would grow more slowly, but I'm fine with that. What feed regimen is used in France with the label rouge program? Don't they grow them until 81 days old? Anyone know?

81 days old is the standard for organic or label rouge in the EU from what I have read (correct me if I'm wrong anyone). I have no idea how they feed them. Try googling it, but obviously they must throttle the food or they would get too large.

I think it's fine to mix a broiler ration with whole grains to lower the protein.

I have found a link that will help you calculate just how much adding someting to your feed ration will increase or decrease your protein ration. I used to use the same type of info all the time in the past when I used to raise dairy goats and was mixing my own feed rations.

CAVEAT:

Grey is right, though...you need to make sure that what you are feeding is nutritionally balanced, too. That's why it's always best to find an expert in the area of animal nutrition (some feed mill folks are truly experts and some have no clue...so ask a lot of questions until you get to a point where you are comfortable with the fact that they know what they are talking about before you dive in and follow advice blindly.)

That said...here's the link and some general info on calculating protein percentages.

Now subtract diagonally through the center, from corner to corner. Ignore changes of sign.

Going from top left to bottom right, 12.5 minus 16 equals 3.5. This number goes in the lower right corner.

Going from bottom left to top right, 37 minus 16 equals 21. This goes in the upper right corner.

The result is 21 parts of wheat to 3.5 parts of soybeans.

Kim's Rectangle
for calculating the protein in a
MIXTURE OF GRAINS

Of course, you will want to use a mixture of grains, we hope! To calculate the protein content of a mix of grains, do three things:

1. Multiply each grain's protein content by the number of parts of that grain in the mix.

2. Add those figures.

3. Divide that total by the total number of parts.

Example:
Say you make a mix that is three parts wheat,
one part corn and one part oats. You want to
know how much protein is in the mix.

GRAIN PARTS PROTEIN % (see list below)

Wheat 3 X 12.5 = 37.5
Corn 1 X 9 = 9
Oats 1 X 12 = 12

TOTALS 5 58.5

58.5 divided by 5 = 11.7% Protein
in mix

After getting the protein percentage for your mix of grains, next use PEARSON'S SQUARE (above) to calculate how much protein concentrate to add to this mix. Where it says "Grain" in the Pearson's Square, just put in your amounts for the total mix.